Women depressed during pregnancy

Nearly one in five pregnant women may show signs of depression but may not talk about the problem, according to a new study. Women are known to be twice as likely as men to experience depression, and symptoms usually appear during the childbearing years. Previously published study found that women are more likely to be depressed during their pregnancy than after their child is born. Yet most women anticipate that they will feel good during pregnancy. They expect this to be a happy time and may be unwilling to divulge their depressive symptoms to others, as they do not want to disappoint people. Women who experience depressive symptoms should talk to somebody about them. They should make sure they are eating meals regularly and getting enough sleep, and should consider self-management strategies and psychotherapy. Those with severe enough symptoms may even benefit from antidepressants. The researchers at the University of Michigan involved 3,472 women who were an average of 25 weeks pregnant. Slightly more than 20 percent of the women showed signs of depression, based on their scores on a screening test for elevated distress during the past seven days. But most of these women (86 percent) had not received any formal treatment, such as medication, psychotherapy or counselling. Only about one quarter of the women who reported being depressed during the past six months were currently being treated for the condition. Preliminary studies in humans and animals suggest that psychiatric symptoms that go untreated may affect the developing fetus. Some of these effects may include low birth weight, early delivery and impaired brain development.
They found that twenty-eight percent of the women studied had been clinically depressed at least once in their lifetime, i.e. they had felt sad or depressed, or had lost all interest in work and other activities nearly every day for at least two weeks. In more than 40 percent of these women, their symptoms had returned during pregnancy. In fact, these women were about five times more likely to have symptoms of depression during pregnancy than those with no history of the condition. Studies show that women with a history of depression are up to 50 percent more likely to also experience post-partum depression. The women's risk of depression was not associated with age, race or ethnicity. It is suggested that pregnancy may be an ideal time for women to be screened for depression since most pregnant women seek prenatal care at some point.

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